Today is the first day of my Weigh2Win challenge through my work wellness program. I actually gained a little weight this week, which is disappointing, but it reminds me what I’m working for.

My starting weight for the challenge will be 315 pounds.

Yesterday I had a training session for my Civil War Reenacting group, who portray horse drawn artillery. The commanding officer of the group, Capt. Stanley came up to me and asked “Have you lost a tremendous amount of weight?” So my hard work is starting to pay off!

As I was jogging next to the cannon as it was being pulled by the horses I had to hold my pants up, which are now a little big for me, so 1. I was jogging next to the cannon and 2. my pants were falling down, so I guess that answers the captain’s question.

My goal by the end of the 12 week challenge is to be well under 300 pounds. 3 pounds a week would be 36 pounds and bring me down to around 280.

Starting next Sunday, Feb 21st I will be starting a 12 week weight loss program through my works wellness program. I get a discount on my health insurance for participating in the wellness program, so it’s good for the body and the wallet!

I got a little bit of a surprise this morning when I weighed in this morning at 310 pounds. I had noticed myself losing weight, I looked smaller in the belly and in the face, but I figured I was still hovering around 320. Back in October I was 345, so I’ve already made a big jump, losing 35 pounds in the last 4 months. Hopefully during this challenge I will dip below 300 pounds, the first time I’ll be under 300 in about 10 years.

My overall goal is to weigh 220 pounds, or a loss of 125 pounds. My current BMI is about 45, which is in the “morbidly obese” range.. I think that’s a little overkill, but still need to work on getting it down anyway.

According to the NIH BMI Calculator (which only takes into consideration Height and Weight), if I weighed 220, my BMI would be 29.0 which is still (surprisingly) on the high end of “Overweight”. I think if my muscle mass, and bone structure were taken into account it wouldn’t be that high since I think 220 would be a very healthy weight for me. Especially compared to 340/350.

My father-in-law was recently diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes and my own father was diagnosed about 10 years ago. I know I’m sugar sensitive and at risk of developing diabetes, but for now I’ve been able to control my sugar through diet and exercise.

My wife had me try some sugar free cookies that her dad liked, since he can’t eat much sugar at all without getting sick, low sugar or sugar free is a must for him. The cookies taste great, but I was a little disappointed in the fat levels. Since my sugar is under control, I’d rather eat something low fat but maybe has a little sugar in it, like reduced fat Chips Ahoys, which are very good.

For example, the Murray’s Sugar Free Chocolate Chip cookies have a serving size of 3 cookies (32g). A serving is 150 calories which isn’t bad, but 20g of carbs (even with 0g sugar) and 9g of fat (14% of DV) and 3.5g sat fat (18%DV).

The reduced fat Chips Ahoys, while they do have 9g of sugar in a 31g serving, they only have 5g of fat (8%DV). Is that enough to make a huge difference? I’m not sure.

The other thing that caught my eye was two boxes of Pop-Tarts I bought lately, one of which happened to be the “Reduced Fat Strawberry”. I wanted to try them, but I’m not daft enough to think Reduced Fat Pop Tart = Healthy.

I was shocked with what I saw on the nutrition panel (and of course I didn’t look too hard until I got them home).

The second box was chocolate chip cookie dough. Which sounds healthier, strawberries or chocolate chip cookies? Depends on what your looking at.

The low fat ones are higher in total carbs and sugars and don’t reduce the calories so I don’t think those are even really worth bothering with.

I guess it depends on what your health goals are, but for myself I think I should stick to the non-fat, low-fat even if it means a few more grams of sugar. And carbs are 4 calories per gram, fat is 9 calories per gram, so low fat will be much lower in calories.

About Me

I am a recent graduate in Food Science (NC State, 2009) and I work for a major food manufacturing company. I love food, but I can no longer eat anything that crosses my path. About 24 months ago I begin a serious struggle to get my obesity under control and reduce my chances of developing Type II diabetes. Since September of '09 I have lost 50 pounds and I still have a long ways to go. I've started eating better and exercising more, including taking up running.